Matt Braunger suffers for his art. Or at least as much as a comic suffers when donning Tommy Bahama shorts and Crocs to play the crazy next-door neighbor on a sitcom.

“I would change out of those clothes to go to lunch,” said Braunger, who headlines Comedy Works South May 23-25. “Oh, the embarrassment… I was like, ‘But I’m cool!’ I didn’t want to be caught wearing those if there was a natural disaster or something.”

The sitcom in question — NBC’s “Up All Night,” which starred Christina Applegate and Will Arnett — lasted for a single season and ended in 2012. It was an echo of Braunger’s 2008-2009 run on Fox’s high-energy sketch show “MadTV,” which birthed a number of notable comics (including the stars of Comedy Central’s “Key & Peele”).

But despite his short time on those shows, Braunger is grateful for the experience, and even more so for his spots on current late-night programs like “@midnight” and “Chelsea Lately,” which continue to put him in front of potential audiences night after night.

“Those are helping a lot right now, whereas ‘MadTV’ and ‘Up All Night’ only helped a little,” said the 39-year-old Portland, Ore., native. “Now, for Ron Funches it’s going to be huge.”

Braunger is referring to another Portland native, who will debut on NBC’s “Undateable” on May 29. Braunger thinks the portly, softspoken Funches’ inherent charm and the show’s mainstream potential means his buddy’s popularity will explode over the next few months.

“It’s going to mean a lot more to him because he’s a main character and will definitely stand out as the only black guy on the show,” Braunger said. “Of course, Funches will always stand out because he’s Ron Funches.”

Funches also happens to be headlining Comedy Works at Larimer Square the same weekend Braunger is in Denver. Like fellow Portland-bred comic Ian Karmel, Braunger and Funches now live in Los Angeles as they pursue not only stand-up but also television and movie roles.

“You need a (TV) credit sometimes for people to take you seriously,” Funches told The Denver Post in 2012, just before his Mile High City debut at the Oriental Theater. “That was a big step in people thinking, ‘OK, he’s probably worth bringing out to our club.’ “

Funches’ return to Denver as a Comedy Works headliner is a testament to the power of his 2012 breakout appearance on “Conan,” just as the coincidence of him headlining a different location of the same local club on the same weekend as Braunger is testament to the Portland’s growing stand-up scene.

The city boasts the annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival — an event Braunger proudly co-founded — and a healthy crop of up-and-coming comics. And unlike in Denver, where mainstream clubs like Comedy Works have supported and helped train local comics, the early days of Portland stand-up were a purely go-it-alone scene.

“Portland only had one club forever, and it was kind of the only option for comics,” Braunger said. “Now you can go up in any number of different venues and work outside the ‘professional’ place for comedy. You have some sibling rivalries, but in the end you also have a lot more community.”

Braunger’s own professional seasoning, which includes stints in New York and Chicago and web series like “Ikea Heights,” has led him to high-profile gigs on “Conan” and “Late Night with David Letterman,” as well as Montreal’s prestigious Just for Laughs festival.

His latest move: an as-yet-untitled follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2012 Comedy Central album “Shovel Fighter.”

“We’re finalizing the deal now but taping the special next month, so I’ll be (testing) that new hour in Denver,” Braunger said. “I was ready to tape it by end of last year, but a person really close to me was like, ‘I wish you would do more personal stuff and some of the stories you tell me when we’re hanging out.’ So I was like ‘Oh yeah, I should do that,’ and I took the last four to five months to write a ton of new stuff that I’ll be workshopping.”

John Wenzel: 303-954-1642, jwenzel@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnwenzel

has covered everything from comedy, music, film, books and video games to breaking news, business and technology for The Denver Post. He's the author of the Speck/Fulcrum nonfiction book "Mock Stars" and an occasional contributor to Rolling Stone, Esquire and others. As a Dayton, Ohio native, his love of Guided by Voices is about equal to his other obsessions, including Peter Jackson's Middle-earth, "Mr. Show" quotes and Onitsuka Tigers.

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